Microsoft Verdict: Can it really be over?

Microsoft's five-year antitrust case may finally have reached its anticlimactic end, but not before it carved out its unique place in legal history and led many to believe it may never see a resolution.

But unless one side or another decides to appeal, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's ruling on Friday (see http://www.silicon.com/a56222 for more) could actually mark the final chapter in a case once said to be a definitive one for antitrust law in the 21st century.

Neither Microsoft, the US Justice Department, nor the group of states that signed on to what is now an official settlement has a strong incentive to continue the case. For his part, US Attorney General John Ashcroft called Friday's decision a "major victory for consumers".

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith also suggested the company is content with the judge's decision. "There's nothing that we've read so far that leads us to believe we're likely to file an appeal," Smith said in an interview.

That leaves the states that have refused to settle. Those are California, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Utah and West Virginia, along with the District of Columbia.

In a conference call with reporters, attorneys general for the non-settling states wouldn't say what they would do next. But in what may hint at the course of action the states are contemplating, California attorney general Bill Lockyer said, "We're all, on both sides of this fight, fatigued."

If the non-settling states do choose to appeal, legal experts predict they'll have a difficult time, especially because Kollar-Kotelly spent 32 days this spring on hearings to decide a remedy that would be appropriate.

Another reason for the states to forgo an appeal is financial. If they continue to pursue Microsoft and they lose, taxpayers will foot the ever-increasing legal bill. As it stands now, Microsoft said, the states will receive only a portion of their attorneys' fees and costs, since they only prevailed on a few of their original allegations.

Declan McCullagh writes for News.com